After a long and successful previous season as state champions, the boys return to the court under head coach Marshall Moellers. In only his second year of coaching, Moellers has secured two state champions, and there is still much more to come.
Although many of the seniors graduated last year, seven members returned for the 2023-24 season including Samir Singh ’24, Patrick Selby ’24, Junze Sun ’25, Anthony Medina ’25, Ishan Harwani ’25, Derek Hua ’25 and Ankur Karandikar ’24. On top of that, a new freshman star Aaron Kang has also joined the varsity team.
On April 5, the boys hosted their first game at the Iowa City West High School tennis courts against Western Dubuque. Their first meet ended strong with a 9-0 win, dominating both the doubles and singles matches, foreshadowing the season that’s to come.
Western Dubuque
Singles:
- Singh: 6-0, 6-2
- Selby: 6-2, 6-0
- Medina: 6-0, 6-0
- Kang: 6-0, 6-0
- Karandikar: 6-0, 6-0
- Hua: 6-0, 6-0
Doubles
- Hua/Harwani: 6-2, 6-4
- Singh/Selby: 6-2, 6-1
- Kang/Medina: 6-0, 6-0
The next morning the boys headed down to Cedar Rapids Washington High School where they faced some competition but ultimately won 8-1.
Cedar Rapids Washington
Singles
- Singh: 6-4, 7-6(9-7)
- Selby: 6-1, 6-3
- Sun: 6-2, 6-3
- Medina: 6-1, 6-2
- Kang: 6-3, 6-3
- Karandikar: 6-3, 6-1
Doubles
- Singh/Selby: 4-6, 7-6(7-4), 1-0(10-5)
- Karandikar/Sun: 6-1, 2-6, 1-0(10-2)
- Medina/Kang: 6-4, 6-0
After defeating Cedar Rapids Washington earlier in the day, the boys headed down to Cedar Rapids Kennedy and secured another sweeping 9-0 victory.
Cedar Rapids Kennedy
Singles
- Selby: 6-4, 6-0
- Sun: 6-0, 6-0
- Medina: 6-0, 6-0
- Kang: 6-0, 6-0
- Karandikar: 6-0, 6-0
- Harwani: 6-2, 6-3
Doubles:
- Selby/Sun: 6-0, 6-0
- Karandikar/Kang: 6-1, 6-0
- Harwani/Medina: 6-0, 6-0
On April 9, the boys left for Dubuque Hempstead during the school day and concluded the meet with a predictable yet impressive 9-0 victory.
Dubuque Hempstead
Singles
- Singh: 6-3, 6-2
- Selby: 6-0, 6-2
- Sun: 6-2, 6-0
- Medina: 6-0, 6-0
- Kang: 6-0, 6-0
- Karandikar: 6-0, 6-0
Doubles
- Singh/Selby: 6-3, 6-4
- Sun/Karandikar: 6-1, 6-1
- Medina/Kang: 6-1, 6-0
On April 15, the boys ranked No. 3 played against No. 1 Linn-Marr and fell 4-5 in a nail-biting meet. Later that week on April 20, they headed down to the West High tennis court and fought against Walhert Catholic ultimately losing in a close 4-5 game. They bounced back later that day and beat Dubuque Senior 8-1.
On April 25, the boys defeated Liberty High in a rescheduled game at the West tennis courts, securing an 8-1.
The boys have had an amazing first half of the season and there’s still much to come. Stay tuned as they face off Waterloo West at the Iowa City West tennis courts on April 27.
